13B Bollywood Movie Review

HORROR films pretty much follow a similar format. Everyone is happy initially. Then, a series of bizarre, scary events traumatise one character thanks to which s/he digs up the past. Finally, the restless souls get their revenge and are at peace. The protagonist gets back to his/her normal life. And all’s well that ends well.

And so it is in 13B, that Manohar (R Madhavan) moves into flat, number 13B, at a posh building with his huge family, including wife Priya (Neetu Chandra), and his serial-loving mother (Poonam Dhillon). Soon, strange things start happening to him -- the elevator doesn’t work only for him; somehow they can’t complete setting up the puja room; the milk gets spoilt every morning; the television switches on by itself at 1300 hours, on channel number 13, to a serial called Sab Khairiyat. A closer look at Sab Khairiyat shows many similarities between the TV family and Manohar’s own. Coincidence forces him to realise this, until he gradually starts depending on the serial to see what happens next in his life.

He realises the serial plays only in his house, and that it is trying to tell him something. With his inspector friend (Murli Sharma) and family doctor Balram Shinde (Sachin Khedekar), Manohar figures out what the people in the serial are trying to tell him. This helps him save his family from being massacred.13B is scary. Goosebumps are guaranteed along the ride. The sound effects and background score by Tubby and Parik up the scare factor.

As does the cinematography by PC Sriram and H Laxminarayan, which is full of close-ups. The film is bathed in a dull, grey hue throughout; there are no bright colours, adding to the eerie feel. Madhavan carries the film ably on his shoulders. Neetu Chandra is good in her simple role. Poonam Dhillion acts her part effortlessly.

Murli Sharma does well as Madhavan’s friend. Sachin Khedekar makes an impact, too.The climax is long-winded and the film could have been cut short by at least half an hour. Thrillers need to be taut. You can predict certain portions in the film, but the climax is rather hard to guess. The film has that going for it.Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s score falls below the mark.

Little Zizou Bollywood Movie Review

Xerxes or Zizou (Jahan) wants to meet his idol, Zinedine Zidane. So he talks to his deceased mother’s picture, conveying all his wishes. His elder brother Art (Imaad) makes wonderful graphics and he and his friends are designing a cockpit simulator.

Art’s father Khodaiji is fanatic and fraud, completely against interracial marriages. Problems arise when Zizou and Art get friendly to Boman Pressvala’s (Boman Irani) family. Art loves Zenobia (Dilshad Patel) and Zizou is close to Mrs. Roxy Pressvala (Zenobia Shroff). He wants to become friends with animal lover Liana (Iyanah Baltivala).

All hell breaks loose when Mr. Pressvala runs a negative article against Khodaiji in his publication.Little Zizou is a delightful and very funny film, depicting the way of life of the Parsis. The performances by one and all are excellent. Jahan is so cute and adorable. He expresses his bereavement so well that your heart goes out to him.

Iyanah Baltivala is very expressive as the smart and clever Liana.. John Abraham looks super hot in the two scenes he has. Zenobia Shroff as Roxy, the concerned wife is wonderful. Boman Irani is brilliant as always. It is amazing how he gets into the skin of the character each time. Shernaz Patel as Khodaiji’s stressed secretary is lovely too. Sourabh Ardeshir plays his part as the religious fraud so well that you hate him. Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal has just two scenes, but she makes an impact with her colourful and interesting character.

She is the only untidy Parsi in the movie. Imaad Shah plays his part sensitively.There are many memorable moments in the film, like the scenes with Cyrus Broacha and John Abraham, the speech that Liana makes in the end, the scene where Zizou confronts his elder brother about their mother’s death, when Zizou breaks the ice with Liana.

You wonder what took Sooni Taraporewala so long to make her directorial debut because she has made a very enetertaining and heartwarming film about Parsis and their inter-personal relationships. It doesn’t look like a debut film. We cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.All in all, Little Zizou is a sweet, feel good film that you must see. It will stay with you long after it is over.

Jai Veeru Bollywood Movie Review

Even before I was ten minutes into this movie, I knew it was going to be a long (read bad) one. As a part of my job, I had to stick it out till the very end.

But let me tell you what others were doing during the filming. First and foremost there were a handful of couples who were least bothered about the proceedings in the movie. Then I spotted a guy who was reading a newspaper with the help of the light from his phone in the pitch dark theatre, as the movie failed to interest him.

Now if you still want to know what Jai Verru is all about, here goes: Veeru (Kunal Khemu) is a small time thief who becomes best friends with undercover cop Jai (Fardeen Khan). Obviously he doesn’t know about Jai’s true identity. Veeru is working for dangerous don Tejpal Yadav (Arbaaz Khan). While on a holiday, he falls in love with Divya (Anjana Sukhani) He tries to set up Jai with him, so that his friend can also make some extra cash.

Jai, the cop, along with his superior, Ranbir Singh (Govind Namdeo), grabs this opportunity to arrest Yadav but the plan goes awfully wrong. Veeru shoots Jai by mistake and runs away to Bangkok. Jai recovers and wants nothing more than killing than Veeru. He also finds a romantic partner in his nurse, Anna (Dia Mirza). He then goes about getting revenge as a cop and acquiring Yadav's little black book of contacts.

So is it worth a dekko?For starters, these movies went out with the nineties. The dialogues are silly and forgettable. Anjana Sukhani should stop acting because she can’t. Her entry has her emerging from the sea to send the hero’s heart into a tizzy. Hasn’t she seen how slim Kareena Kapoor., Esha Deol and Bipasha Basu, even Neha Dhupia have looked in similar scenes? Anjana has bulges and nothing about her is eye popping.

We don’t know what Kunal Khemu liked about her. The action has a very Dhoom 1 and 2 feel to it. So there is nothing new there. Some scenes have been flicked from M: I 2. Even the background score is jarring and ‘inspired’ from Hollywood action flicks. The other songs are alright. The song between Fardeen and Dia was totally unnecessary.

Why did the producer waste so much money on it, I wonder.Kunal Khemu isn’t hero material but he has decent acting skills and comic timing. Fardeen Khan should learn something from him. I guess his Hindi isn’t very good so most of his dialogues are in English. Arbaaz Khan can’t act and is unconvincing as the dangerous Don. Dia Mirza looks pretty and does action sequences well.Jai Veeru is just a waste of time. Please stay away.

Aalo Chat Bollywood Movie Review

Aloo Chaat is the age old film that revolves around parents trying to fix an arranged marriage for their son while he has his eyes on another girl. Nikhil (Aftab Shivdasani) is trying to deal with his narrow minded parents who are all set to get him married with a Punjabi girl of their choice.

He on the other hand is in love with Aamna (Aamna Sharif) but is not able to disclose that to his family. And so he uses his father’s friend to help convince his father that Aamna is the girl for Nikhil. Will he succeed? Aloo Chaat disappoints you at many levels. Aftab’s acting is very mediocre. Aamna is even worse.

And I don’t think it’s the actors who need to be blamed for it. The screenplay is so clichéd and so mediocre that anyone would be bored of the script.As a part of the audience, I yawned through most of the film and was so restless all through out. I actually knew the end even before we got there because the script was so filled with the same situations that we have seen on so many occasions in so many movies that this film felt more like a hot pot of all those films.Robby Grewal’s direction is nothing spectacular either.

He does an average job and sadly for him the results at the box office will also be average – if that!This is one chaat that will only give you indigestion and so our advice is to stay far away from it!

Firaaq Bollywood Movie Review

I went to see Firaaq with really high expectations after all the stunning reviews it had got at various festivals. Although the film was a tad moving, it wasn’t as great as I expected it to be. But one thing is for sure that although you may not like it immediately after you see it but some images of it will remain with you long after.

The story is set a month after the communal riots in Gujarat, depicting how everyone’s lives continue to be haunted by the riot. Deepti Naval, a Gujarati housewife punishes herself for not giving shelter to a Muslim girl during the riots; Sanjay Suri is scared to death because he is a Muslim; his wife Anuradha, played by Tisca Chopra, is a Hindu. Shahana Goswami, is a Muslim mehendiwali who thinks her Hindu best friend might just be responsible for setting her house on fire. Mohsin aka Mohan, played by Mohammed Samad, is a Muslim boy orphaned in the riots. Naseeruddin Shah is a musician who cannot accept the reality of the riots and Raghubir Yadav provides him company.

Just how each of these individuals deal with the impact of the riots in their lives is what Firaaq is all about.The performances are excellent to say the least. Sanjay Suri expresses his fear well and Tisca complements him perfectly. Deepti Naval as the suppressed housewife is wonderful. Shahana Goswami, delivers another brilliant performance. It is amazing how she fits into any role. Naseeruddin Shah is perfectly natural; he IS the character.

Ditto for Paresh Rawal who is absolutely flawless and makes you hate his Gujarati MCP lecherous character.The production design is flawless. It has been shot in Hyderabad but you will think it is Ahmedabad through and through. There is attention to detail in every frame. The mixed languages: English, Hindi and Gujarati lend authenticity to the film. You feel the fear and helplessness of the characters. It moves you in that way.However, what goes against the film is that it is awfully slow paced. It is less than two hours long but feels much longer. Also, it ends rather abruptly with none of the ends tying up like they should.

There is no proper closure to the stories and you don’t expect the movie to end when it does. It is abstract. But maybe that is the point Nandita Das is trying to make - that riots and violence do not make any sense and they leave us with many questions unanswered. The loss cannot be measured.Nandita Das has an interesting voice and vision and extracts impeccable performances from her stellar cast to tell a personal story. If you can be patient while watching a film, go and see Firaaq.

Barah Aana Bollywood Movie Review

Barah Aana is a story that revolves around the friendship between a driver called Shukla (Naseeruddin Shah), a watchman Yadav (Vijay Raaz) and a waiter Aman (Arjun Mathur).

Naseeruddin brings with him the maturity and dependency that you can expect from a man of his age. Raaz on the other hand is lazy and mischievous man who prefers life that is easy and laid back. And finally there is the young Arjun who is simply brimming with ambition and wants to make it in life.But what happens when one of them gets involved in the world of crime and how it impacts the other two is what Barah Aana is all about.

Raja Menon’s Barah Aana is a refreshing film because it gives you a light comedy coupled with some serious moments and why it works is because it is tightly held together and is filled with brilliant performances.Naseeruddin Shah does yet another fantastic job. It is always a treat to watch Shah on screen because time and again he impresses and never once does he let you down. Vijay Raaz, one of Bollywood’s most under utilized actors, shines as well as Shah in almost every frame.Newcomers Arjun Mathur and Tannishtha surprise us with a strong presence on screen. Both of these are talents to watch out for! But most credit for the film should go to the director Raja Menon who has ensured the script has been fleshed out perfectly and more importantly it has been executed very well.

Sure there are some flaws but that can be expected from a film that is tight on budget but having said that none of them are glaringly obvious.The film is definite recommendation for this weekend especially for all the Naseer fans!

Aa Daikhain Zara Bollywood Movie Review

Ray Acharya (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is a freelance photographer barely able to meet his expenses. One day he gets the news that his grandfather has died leaving him a note behind. Ray heads to his childhood home to bid a final goodbye to him and also take some remaining items of his grandfather. One such item is a boat that growing up his grandfather had told him was not a ‘sadharan’ boat. Twiddling with it, he discovers a key and a photo of a safe.

Ray reaches the safe and discovers that his grandfather has left him an old looking camera with magical powers. The magical powers being that it can take pictures of the future. Confused? Well if Ray takes a photo of a man today at 4pm, then the photograph develops to show what will happen to that man tomorrow at the exact same time.And so the hard up for cash Ray begins to use this camera to his advantage. By looking into the future he starts winning lotteries, betting on horses and on cricket matches. As a result very quickly he gets himself the money, house and car. On the other hand his girlfriend Simi (Bipasha Basu) can’t seem to understand what is happening to her simple boyfriend and how he is becoming rich overnight.

One day Ray finds himself facing the same camera and when he develops the picture he gets back a completely black picture that is dated few days into the future. A black picture means only one thing – death isn’t very far for the person in question.Thus begins Ray’s countdown to his death and he makes every attempt to avoid his end. Will he succeed?

That’s what the rest of the film is all about.A tightly written script that moves very quickly makes Aa Dekhen Zara a decent watch. Credit must be given to director Jehangir Surti for holding the script and not letting it go at any point in the two hours. Sure there are some flaws but which Bollywood film doesn’t? For example you have to deal with Bipasha the DJ dancing on the top of the DJ console or her scantily clad breaking into a peppy number just when she and Neil are running from the police.

Neil Nitin Mukesh has done a good job and will definitely put to rest a lot of his critics. Rahul Dev who is back on our screens after a while pulls off the contract killer role well. Sophie Chaudhry looks hot on screen but her acting as an agent in disguise is more laughable and can’t really be taken seriously. However, considering the other two extremely mediocre films this weekend, it surely looks like ADZ is your safest bet!

Videsh Bollywood Movie Review

Preity Zinta plays the young village belle Chand. She arrives in Canada to be married to a man she has never met Rocky (Vansh Bhardwaj) with just one suitcase to call her own leaving her parents and brother back home in India.Her husband on the other hand is a short tempered young man who is dealing with his own pressures within the family. His mother still wants to have a hold on him, his father has no say in the house and with his sister, brother-in-law and their kids moving in the house is already bursting at its seams when Chand arrives.

To make matters worse, he is solely responsible for earning enough money so he can arrange for the immigration for the rest of his siblings to Canada as well.Chand on the other hand is educated and comes from a family where she is loved and pampered. Here in a foreign land, she tries to find comfort in her husband only to be mistreated and physically abused by him. While working in a factory, Chand meets a Jamaican woman who sees the bruise marks on Chand and gives her a magical root that she says will help turn her husband around.

However, the root has no effect on her husband and she only finds herself falling further into the trap of being at the mercy of her husband and his family. But that’s till she finds herself in the middle of an old Indian fable that suddenly gives her an understanding and loving husband. Confused how he suddenly changes during the day and then at night, Chand finds her sanity in imagining her loving husband in the face of a King Cobra – the old Indian fable of the icchadari naag.Videsh: Heaven on Earth disappoints you at every level.

The script is ridiculous and the acting even worse. Vandh Bhardwaj flies off the handle for no apparent reason. Yes he maybe short tempered and yes domestic abuse doesn’t ever have any logic, but the way here he is made to start beating his wife is ridiculous. The mother in law is equally annoying and actually reminds you of one of Ekta Kapoor’s numerous vamps who are obsessed with their sons! Don’t get him married if you want him tied to yourself – it’s really as simple as that.Coming to Preity in the film, the Bollywood actress plays the abused wife who is trying to please her husband well; but her character is so badly written that she couldn’t have saved the film no matter how hard she tried.

The differing shades of excitement, confusion and then helplessness are portrayed very well by Zinta but sadly a whole film cannot ride on it – no matter how short it is.Deepa Mehta who has given us brilliant award winning films disappoints with Videsh: Heaven on Earth.

While I agree with the concept of her film – young girl goes from a village, is married abroad only to find herself in a dead end and dealing with domestic abuse – I find that the film lacked enough meat. While we waited for the big deliveries to arrive, every time you had to settle for Zinta singing couplets to make herself oblivious to what she was going through.All in all Videsh doesn’t offer you any Heaven in your cinema, let along on Earth!

Ek "The Power of One" Review

Cast :
Bobby Deol, Nana Patekar, Shriya Saran, Chunkey Pandey
Director :
Sangeeth Sivan
Producer :
K. Sera Sera Production
Genre :
Not available
Release Date :
27-3-2009
Synopsis :
Ek - The Power of One staring Bobby Deol, Nana Patekar, Shriya Saran and Chunkey
Bobby Deol, Nana Patekar, Shriya Saran, Chunkey Pandey

Nandu (Bobby Deol) is an orphan. At a very young age, he joins a gang of thugs and commits his first murder. Along with him is Shekhar (Pradeep Kharab) who is as young as Nandu and being an orphan has also joined this group of criminals to survive. Nandu grows up to become a cold blooded assassin and Shekhar the getaway specialist. However, one contract job goes haywire for Nandu. During his getaway not only does Shekhar die but Nandu is also on the run from the cops.

In his escape from the police, another man called Puran whom he meets on the train dies when the police aim a shot at Nandu. Nandu heads to Puran’s home and starts living his family a Puran. There he experiences the feeling of living in a real home – something he had never done before. He becomes protective of his grandfather (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), his sisters and also begins to fall in love with Preet (Shriya Saran). Nandu is ready to forget about his past and continue to live here like Puran – but that’s till CBI Inspector Rane (Nana Patekar) arrives on the scene. Convinced that Puran is Nandu; Rane is hot on the heels of Puran.

Nandu also realizes that if he wants to live a life in peace, he will have to prove his innocence in the contract job.And it is in this mission to fin out the truth, Nandu discovers the biggest lie of his life. Will he be able to prove his innocence, that’s what Ek – the Power of One is all about.

So is it worth a trek to your local cinema? In short the answer is NO.Bobby Deol is probably a good choice for an assassin. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he can produce all of two and half facial expressions and that’s all he does in this film too. Shriya Saran looks like she just saw a hundred Asha Parekh movies before she took a shot for the film and the rest of the cast don’t even deserve a mention.

Nana Patekar is so disgusting in the film that he makes you want to throw up (just a warning – don’t chew on anything every time he comes on screen else you will choke on his atrocious English!)When Sangeeth Sivan would have begun writing the script of this film, I am sure it was good. No body really sets out to make a bad film. (Or do they?)

The concept of the story is not bad. But what happened once the execution began is something that I want an answer to. Does anyone have a number for Mr. Sivan?

The Edge of Love

Plot

London, World War II. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Rhys) is in love with both his wife Caitlin (Miller) and his childhood friend Vera (Knightley), now married to the devoted William (Murphy).

But Dylan’s refusal to commit to one woman could destroy the lives of all of them...
VerdictThe cast is strong and the first act has an intriguingly dreamy quality, but it gives way to a soggy ending.

Last House on The Left Review

The strategy behind the remake of "The Last House on the Left" is clear. It grinds our bones to make its bread.

I'm sort of astonished that it works, just as it's astonishing Wes Craven, the writer-director-editor of the determinedly "ugly" (Craven's description) 1972 original, went on to create such rich cinematic nightmares as the first "Nightmare on Elm Street." The old "Last House" was pure unstable trash, a grindhouse item provoking all sorts of protests and cuts regarding the content. Its most appalling cruelties—urination, castration, exposed intestines (portrayed by condoms stuffed with peanut butter and jelly) and a nihilistic late-Vietnam War era tone—were made somehow more disturbing by the film's misjudgments. The comic relief and chipper bluegrass musical score didn't just belong to another movie; they belonged to another galaxy.

Craven borrowed his rape-revenge narrative from an unlikely source: "The Virgin Spring," Ingmar Bergman's 1960 allegory in turn based on a 13th Century Swedish ballad. Now comes the blunt, unusually well-acted remake of "Last House," produced by Craven and his old crony Sean S. Cunningham (who begat the "Friday the 13th" franchise). They've overseen a horror remake—more of a thriller by definition, and a grueling one—that doesn't amp up the grisly extravagances of the original, or even pay much attention to what the kids have been going for lately, in the realm of the "Hostel" or "Saw" charnel houses. This film, the first in English directed by Greek native Dennis Iliadis ("Hardcore"), is what it is: a stark story of bloodthirstiness quenched, first by the obvious antagonists, then by sympathetic, civilized characters who avenge the atrocities that have come before.

As in '72, the pursuit of marijuana sets the victims on a path to hell. Mari (Sara Paxton), teenage daughter of John (Tony Goldwyn) and Emma (Monica Potter), leaves her folks at the lake home while she and her weed-minded pal (Martha MacIsaac) go into town and get to know a sweet, strange young guy (Spencer Treat Clark) who has the stuff they're looking for back at a pretty rough-looking motel. When his relatives show up at the motel—father Krug (Garret Dillahunt) chief among them, a recent prison escapee and heartless sociopath—the girls' lives get much worse very quickly.

"The Last House on the Left" hinges on humiliation and vengeance, which makes it like most other modern horror titles. Its focus on sexual assault, however, puts it in a different, more primal league. The way director Iliadis shapes the key misery-inducing sequence, there's no hype or slickness or attempt to make the rape palatable or visually "dynamic." For that you have to go see " Watchmen."

The second half of the film offers a more reassuring comfort zone for the audience, pitting the Manson-type family against the parents of Mari. Two sequences point to the remake's strengths and weaknesses. When John and Emma realize who's in their house, the kitchen scene (crimson shades of "Rolling Thunder") satisfies the audience's need for Old Testament justice; it's pretty dazzling in its suspense as well as its homey domestic sadism. This is followed by a far less interesting cat-and-mouse slaughter, capped by an epilogue that's basically a sight gag belonging to a far more jokey pulp universe.

Such aspects of the screenplay by Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth are there because they've been there in so many previous, financially lucrative franchise items.

The writing's better than that as a whole, though. "Last House" proceeds with a grim sense of purpose, its actors portraying characters approximating real people and plausible behavior, amid plausible tension, borne of a terrible situation. Is it pointless? It is, actually. Does that kill it? No, actually. I wouldn't call it a good time, but I would call it an unexpectedly good genre film.

Sugar Review

There is something undeniably noble and beautiful about the love of sports: the appreciation of grace and excellence for their own sakes, the pleasure of competition, the discipline of training. But the practice of big-time sports is often cruel and corrupt, a business built on the exploitation of young people and the peddling of impossible dreams. This basic contradiction will be in vivid evidence this weekend, during the national college basketball championships. It is also, at least implicitly, a central concern in “Sugar,” a wise and lovely new film by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

It is their belief in the dignity of the sport that allows Ms. Boden and Mr. Fleck to turn a quietly critical eye on its economic workings and social consequences. Though it tells a fictional story, “Sugar” belongs on a shelf with “Hoop Dreams,” another great film that challenges us to shed our illusions about sports even as we retain our capacity to delight in the games themselves.

Miguel Santos is certainly capable of such delight. Nicknamed Azúcar (Spanish for sugar), and played by a marvelously expressive and likable young nonprofessional actor named Algenis Pérez Soto, he is sweet and easygoing, but also fiercely competitive and a bit cocky.

Like many young Dominican men who demonstrate some baseball talent, he was signed by an American professional team (the fictitious Kansas City Knights) as a teenager. Sugar and his fellow recruits live in a training center that in some ways resembles a prep school, in others a prison. An armed guard stands at the gate, and practices are observed from what looks like a guard tower.

On weekends, Miguel goes home to his village to visit with his family and his girlfriend, and to hang out with slightly older men whose own dreams of major-league glory have evaporated or expired.

In their previous feature, “Half Nelson,” Ms. Boden and Mr. Fleck, a married couple who live in Brooklyn, seemed at first to be working within a familiar, somewhat dubious genre, the heroic urban teacher melodrama. But by making the teacher in question (played by Ryan Gosling) not only a drug addict but also, more important, a complicated individual whose moral confusion was hard to separate from his political idealism, they upended easy, sentimental assumptions about race, class and urban life.

Something similar happens in “Sugar.” For more than half its running time the film seems to be following the narrative structure of a standard sports story, unfolding through the triumphs and reversals of a single, fateful season. After a stint in spring training in Arizona, Miguel finds himself in Iowa, boarding with an elderly local couple and trying out his stuff in front of some pretty demanding hometown crowds as a starting pitcher for the Bridgetown Swing.

Off the field he socializes with his fellow Spanish-speaking ballplayers, befriends a former college star and conducts a tentative flirtation with the strawberry-blond, churchgoing granddaughter of his hosts, who wants him for spiritual or carnal purposes, or both. (Here in America we may accept the constitutional separation of church and state, but church and sex are much harder to keep apart.) On the field Miguel hits his stride early, is slowed down by an injury, faces various temptations and then ...

But see for yourself. The game of baseball, ungoverned by the clock, is notoriously full of surprises, and the surprise of “Sugar” — I don’t mean the major third-act plot twist, which is astonishing when it happens and utterly logical in retrospect — is that it’s not really about baseball at all. It’s about, among other things, the way America looks through the eyes of a stranger, about the beauty of the Caribbean, the Midwest and the South Bronx (skillfully evoked by the cinematographer Andrij Parekh), and about what it is to be a young man full of desire and potential in a world that seems starkly divided between haves and have-nots, success and failure.

Perhaps nowhere are these divisions more extreme than in the world of professional sports, which beguiles some of the poorest people in the hemisphere with specters of fabulous wealth. But even in that world, a lot of space is taken up by the middle ground: the modest paychecks sent to the family back home; the careers that culminate neither in glory nor in disgrace, but that flare up and peter out; the tiny increment of luck or timing that separates strike three from ball four.

And so “Sugar” walks away from clichés about the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat, preferring to contemplate the satisfactions and frustrations that lie in between. It is both sad and hopeful, but the film’s sorrow and its optimism arise from its rarest and most thrilling quality, which is its deep and humane honesty.

The Escapist 2009 Review

I'll admit it right up front: I am a fan of the prison film genre. On top of that, I'm a fan of films that assemble a motley crew of malcontents that don't necessarily get along but all need each other to succeed. This cinematic appreciation has given me gems to adore such as "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Great Escape," "Scum," "The Dirty Dozen" and, Hell, even "Force 10 from Navarone" (damn youse, Nikolai!!!). And now I get to add another brilliant film to the list, "The Escapist."

"The Escapist" is the tale of Frank Perry (Brian Cox), a prisoner in jail for life who has just gotten some extremely motivating news that stirs him to do more than just waste away in prison, but to actually try to escape. Assembling a small crew of like-minded prisoners such as chemist Baptista (Seu Jorge), fighter / breaking-and-entering savant Lenny (Joseph Fiennes) and long-time friend Brodie (Liam Cunningham), the plan is set in motion. Of course, as with all great plans, things start to get complicated with the arrival of Frank's new cellmate James Lacey (Dominic Cooper) and the possibility of running afoul of prison kingpin Rizza (Damian Lewis).

On top of the tried-and-true prison genre formula coupled with the misfit gang formula, Rupert Wyatt's "The Escapist" flips everything on its ear by playing out in two timelines simultaneously. As the escape goes on, we see the flashbacks of how we got to the escape and as each timeline cuts back and forth, the line begins to blur between what is actually happening when and how. This brilliant spin on the narrative elevates the film into the higher echelon of the genre flicks, and in a way moves the film so far beyond that it almost feels like a disservice to call it a prison film. At the same time, when a film does a genre so right, it's hardly a disservice to celebrate it.

Beyond love of the genre and narrative genius, this is truly another feather in the cap for legendary actor Brian Cox. His portrayal of Frank has you both pitying and rooting for him, both caring for, and at his most guarded moments, hating him for his inability to really rock the boat, at least as long as he's got something to lose. Essentially, Cox gives us a charismatic cipher, a character in the background that no one notices and yet he still inspires enough trust to make the most daring of moves.

"The Escapist" is a film worth seeking out, for both its fresh re-invention of the prison film genre and the absolute clinic on acting put on by Brian Cox and the rest of the actors in the film (not a weak link among them).

Adventureland Review

A sweet, sharp coming-of-age romance, "Adventureland" is a little warmer, a little funnier and a lot more truthful than the last 20 or 30 of its ilk. Especially its Hollywood ilk.

You know the kind: R-rated comedies about socially maladroit horndogs on the brink of adulthood, partying, hooking up, throwing up, setting their sights on the rest of their lives. All this happens in "Adventureland"—set in 1987, mostly within the confines of a Pittsburgh amusement park—yet the characters, female as well as male, interact like real people, not stereotyped castoffs from John Hughes' '80s catalog. This third feature from writer-director Greg Mottola is reminiscent of Barry Levinson's "Diner" or Paul Mazursky's "Next Stop, Greenwich Village" or, more recently, Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused," personal projects (personal enough, at least, to make them ring true) made by astute populist entertainers. It's my favorite American movie so far this year.

Miramax Films financed "Adventureland" and premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The studio is marketing it as another "Superbad," thereby guaranteeing a whole lot of confused teenagers who won't be getting the raunch they're promised, as well as guaranteeing a tough sell with an older crowd, the people with the most direct relationship to the film's setting, time frame and sensibility.

The movie's low-key appeal doesn't have a lot to do with "Superbad," which was, in fact, good, and was Mottola's second feature. (His engaging debut, "The Daytrippers," preceded it by more than a decade.) I guess I can't blame Miramax for capitalizing on what it sees as a film's commercial hooks, but at least one of the posters makes "Adventureland" look like it stars Bill Hader's porn-star mustache.

In the real leading role, Jesse Eisenberg of "The Squid and the Whale" plays James, a highly verbal, sexually tentative 22-year-old college graduate whose major in Renaissance studies has put him in a terrific position if, as he says, "someone wants help restoring a fresco." Despite the Reagan Revolution, everyone in "Adventureland" has serious, real-world money problems. When his upper-middle-class father (Jack Gilpin) suffers a setback at work, James must forgo the $900 earmarked as his European travel money. So he looks for work and ends up at Adventureland, where he's employed in one of the game booths. Over the summer, he enters, tentatively, the orbit of Em, played by Kristen Stewart of " Twilight."

This cool, wary figure represents the adventureland beyond Adventureland. Em's involved with the park's married maintenance man ( Ryan Reynolds), an arrangement that has begun to corrode her self image. To James, Em is the promise of a leap into adulthood. Other characters are played more for laughs, such as the park's husband-and-wife management team (Hader and Kristen Wiig), but the reason I fell for "Adventureland" has everything to do with its central couple, along with James' friendship with Joel, a pipe-smoking literature fiend and fellow Adventureland slacker played by Martin Starr. At one point, Joel and another staffer find themselves fairly drunk and unexpectedly close. "I'm so surprised I'm making out with you!" says the girl. "Me too," replies Joel, insulted and pleased in equal measure. Mottola's script is full of similarly spot-on exchanges.

Your response to "Adventureland" may well have a lot to do with your feelings about any of the following: a fine and mellow musical score by Yo La Tengo; the choice of "Bastards of Young" by The Replacements as the title sequence tune; and Eisenberg's exquisitely self-effacing comic timing, similar to Michael Cera's but drier.

The film doesn't try to make James into a fount of nobility or a moral paragon; it's a little painful, by design, watching this nice, smart kid try to ingratiate himself with the cool crowd by being the provider of the weed.

But the way their love story develops, Eisenberg and Stewart play off each other like magic. From an awkward, mistimed first kiss to a mega-happy happy ending, romantic but not candied, Mottola's trip down memory lane transcends every one of its familiar component parts. I'm eager to see it again.

Anvil! The Story Of Anvil (15) Review

Plot Canadian rockers Anvil played a key role in the birth of speed metal, inspiring the likes of Metallica, Anthrax and Guns N’ Roses, yet have themselves been cruelly overlooked by fame for more than 30 years. But, while working day jobs and entering their fifties, founding members Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow and Robb Reiner have continued to rock...

Review Like that toweringly famous mockumentary, The Story Of Anvil contains a disastrous trans-continental tour (managed by a band girlfriend, no less). Both films culminate with a gig in . Hell, the drummer’s name is Robb Reiner. It’s all some elaborate, viral-marketed hoax, right? Wrong. Anvil are the real deal, and that you haven’t heard of them is exactly the point. Fame and fortune have eluded long-time bandmates, guitarist and vocalist Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow, and drummer Reiner (despite impressive testimonials here from the likes of Metallica and Motörhead), but amid the drudgery of day jobs and the disappointment of setbacks they never gave up.

So far, so typical documentary about wishfulfilment and ‘living the dream’, which you’d expect from the guy who wrote The Terminal, but Sacha Gervasi has found something more, and he mines a very rich vein for all it’s worth. How far would you go — and we’re talking about the harsh, real world here, not Hollywood hypothetical — to achieve your life goals? How much time and money would you spend? How much rejection could you take? What would you put your family through? The Story Of Anvil observes it all with excruciating (and often hilarious) honesty: the ramshackle European tour, getting their 13th album recorded, infighting, humiliation, outright extortion. But they keep clinging to hope, always believing that the breakthrough is just around the next corner.

It certainly helps that Gervasi is himself a hardcore fan (he roadied for the band in the mid-’80s). His devotion allows us access to Anvil’s most private and often painful moments, but it also ensures that his film rises above mere cinematic rubbernecking to tell an amazing story about optimism, limits and the underside of the rock ’n’ roll dream. Much more than a rockumentary, this will have you questioning whether anyone should ever abandon their dreams. Like life, it isn’t all laughs — but it mostly is, and it makes for a hell of a movie. Yes, this is Spinal Tap — and then some.

VerdictThe lyrics to AC/DC’s Long Way To The Top were never more appropriate. Anvil! is exactly what’s needed to slap the recent rash of doomsayer documentaries in the face — preferably with a studded, fingerless leather glove.

Lymelife Movie Review

FRUSTRATED teens, the roar of the railroad, killer ticks and Alec Baldwin: pretty much the way I've always seen Long Island.

A native, Derick Martini, sees it that way too, directing and co-writing (with his brother, Steve) a movie that gathers up a mass of their homeland and shapes it into something like art. "Lymelife," set amid marital decay and teen frustration, isn't quite the "American Beauty" of the 516 area code, but it'll do.

That's when Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin), a shaggy 15-year-old, gets caught between playing with his "Star Wars" laser gun and the smile of his schoolmate (Emma Roberts, in her first R-rated part).

His real estate developer dad (Alec Baldwin) boasts that he's almost a millionaire, but his wife (Jill Hennessy) wishes the family still lived in Queens. For some reason, an older son (Kieran Culkin) is in the military and expecting to be called for the Falkland Islands war, which didn't start until three years later.

The developer's star employee (Cynthia Nixon, unconvincingly laying on the Lawn Guyland accent) is locked in an unhappy marriage with her husband, an unemployed fellow with unwashed hair and a deer rifle. I think this may be the first screen character I've encountered who's being driven into a psychotic haze by Lyme disease, and I give Timothy Hutton credit for investing the character with a full dose of creepiness.

Baldwin, who made this project happen by agreeing to shoot it while also doing "30 Rock" in the city, keeps his character balanced with obnoxious charm. No one could do better delivering this line, which the dad hurls up at his sulking son while the latter takes refuge on the roof: "Please come down here before f - - - ing Carvel closes."

The movie is more a setting with characters than a story, and its "Mean Streets" touches have been imitated in so many other films that they've come to seem pre-packaged. We don't need another scene in which a girl enters a room in slo-mo to the strains of a Motown song -- but the sequence works, and Martin Scorsese has blessed this project by taking an executive producer credit.

Martini brews a hazy feeling out of memory and time, a sense of relief and regret in the knowledge that nothing so exotic as ordinary suburban puberty can ever happen to you again.